Everything you wanted to know about television writing…
Okay… Maybe not everything… LOL.
All of a sudden I’ve been getting more than my fair share of email asking questions about screenwriting for television… And, although I do know a little about it and I could probably wing it if I had to, I’ve been getting some pretty specific questions…
And as someone pointed out a few posts ago, I’m so obsessed with reading my email that I just have to answer these questions… LOL.
Uh huh.
These videos are not only about about writing for television but how series are made, development, etc…
If you listen closely, you’ll get some specific information about writing for HBO and Showtime.
Enjoy.
Unk
Pamela Douglas: A Better Understanding of TV Dramas
Pamela Douglas: A History of TV Dramas
Pamela Douglas: The Biggest Hits of TV Dramas
Pamela Douglas: The Biggest Trends in TV Dramas
Pamela Douglas: Types of TV Dramas
Pamela Douglas: Writing a TV Drama Script
Pamela Douglas: Producing a TV Drama
Pamela Douglas: How TV Drama Series Are Made
About Pamela Douglas
Some of you might want a printed transcript of each video… All you have to do is click on over to:
A Better Understanding of TV Dramas — scroll on down to the transcript block and click on the print link.
Here’s the rest of the links:
The Biggest Trends in TV Dramas
Screenwriting structure Part 12 The Inciting Incident
Been awhile hasn’t it? LOL. I just haven’t had time to write anything but that’s okay, right? I’m knee-deep in my own shit right now and today… Sunday of all days, I really need to get some more work done and you know… The more I look at it, the less I wanna work on it.
So my procrastination turns into another structure post. I had another screenwriting structure post just about completed but it’s now gone. That’s what I get for working on it ahead of time… LOL.
No more.
Winging it has always worked best for me anyway… I type all my blog posts up in a little piece of software called BlogDesk and it’s always performed flawlessly till today… Today it wouldn’t run. Something about Microsoft’s DHTML editor needing repair. So like any good Windows user, I uninstalled it and then reinstalled it and guess what? No more post.
So here, I wing it.
The last post on screenwriting structure covered the first ten pages of the screenplay and your Protagonist’s ordinary world. I won’t revisit it except to say that you really should consider showing us your Protagonist’s ordinary world and make sure that ordinary world is relevant to what’s currently happening to your Protagonist. I’m always getting asked about the ordinary world and a lot of you seem to think we’re talking about the Protagonist’s everyday life and while that might be what you need to show us depending on your story — that’s really not what we’re talking about when talking about the ordinary world.
What I usually find is that a lot of screenplays get the ordinary world just a little bit wrong… Remember, the ordinary world that’s pertinent to the story. The ordinary world that your Protagonist is caught up in right now! Show us that world and it should be easier to get your story moving along.
The Inciting Incident…
Some call it the catalyst… I’m partial to inciting incident and I’ll tell you why… It’s self explanatory plain and simple. Let’s take a look at the definition of inciting and incident:
incite
–verb (used with object), -cit·ed, -cit·ing.
to stir, encourage, or urge on; stimulate or prompt to action: to incite a crowd to riot.
incident
–noun
1. an individual occurrence or event.
2. a distinct piece of action, or an episode, as in a story or play.
3. something that occurs casually in connection with something else.
4. something appertaining or attaching to something else.
5. an occurrence of seemingly minor importance, esp. involving nations or factions between which relations are strained and sensitive, that can lead to serious consequences, as an outbreak of hostilities or a war: border incident; international incident.
6. an embarrassing occurrence, esp. of a social nature.
–adjective
7. likely or apt to happen (usually fol. by to).
8. naturally appertaining: hardships incident to the life of an explorer.
9. conjoined or attaching, esp. as subordinate to a principal thing.
10. falling or striking on something, as light rays.
And just to let you know (in case you’re interested), I’ve discussed the inciting incident here and here awhile back so you might want to read up on these as well… Here, we’re discussing the inciting incident within the context of screenwriting structure…
I personally strive to get the inciting incident going no later than page 12. Sometimes I hit that mark — sometimes I don’t but I do most of the time. Gotta tell ya… One of the first things a producer usually does is either ask the reader when the inciting incident occurs or if they decide to read it themselves, they turn ahead through the pages to see what gets things moving and if you don’t have some inciting incident to get your Protagonist of his or her ass by page 12 — no later than page 15, don’t expect a call back about your script.
Is it formula?
Nope.
It’s form.
It hits us upside the head just a little harder these days when you give us the inciting incident within the first 12 minutes of your story. The mass audience of today isn’t really interested in sitting around waiting for a half hour for something to get your protagonist’s ass in gear. Remember, these are the fucking people sitting in the audience sending text messages and even making Goddamn phone calls. You really think these are the kinda people that wanna wait a half hour or gasp — never — for your incitiing incident?
Not on your life… In fact, you may want to consider writing your inciting incident so that these rude sons-a-bitches decide to turn those fucking cell phones off till the end of your film.
Some artistes might want to argue this cold hard fact… Don’t bother arguing about it with me. Not interested.
My two previous posts above pretty much spell out what the inciting incident is… Not a whole lot more information I can add… The big thing to remember is that you need an event to happen to your protagonist that causes him or her to eventually make the decision to leave the safety of their ordinary world and remember… They won’t want to leave. They will probably try to figure out a way not to leave but eventually, they acquiesce to the fact that they gotta go on a new journey to resolve whatever conflict the inciting incident just caused.
Make note that you’ve actually got quite a bit of leeway with the inciting incident…
Try to come up with an inciting incident that we’ve not seen before… Astonish us. Grab our attention so that we lean forward in that theater seat and invest ourselves into the rest of your story. Catch us by surprise… Don’t telegraph it to us.
Come up with an inciting incident that grabs us by the throat — something we haven’t seen before (yes, it can be done) and you’re on your way to a compelling story.
Remember… You’ve shown us your Protagonist’s ordinary world. We’ve seen how he or she behaves within that ordinary world. We understand it. We understand your Protagonist. It may not be a great place (I’m not talking location here) to be but it’s one that the Protagonist is at home in. He or she is safe within that world because they know the rules and they exist and make decisions based on the rules of that world.
The inciting incident is that unexpected banana peel your Protagonist slips on. He didn’t see it coming and neither did we. It’s that drive-by that happens for no fucking reason. It’s that grenade that makes no fucking sense.
Knock your Protagonist off her or her ass and you’ve got our attention.
Unk